


Vereinsamt

by Lothiriel84



Series: Abandoned [3]
Category: MarsCorp (Podcast)
Genre: Dubious Science, Family Secrets, Fix-It, Gen, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2017-06-23
Packaged: 2018-11-18 04:44:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11283978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lothiriel84/pseuds/Lothiriel84
Summary: The world a gateTo thousand deserts mute and coldSomeone who lost, what you lostStops nowhere





	Vereinsamt

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Wolfsmilch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfsmilch/gifts).



Ten years, that was how long since the last time he’d heard of Colin Denham. Now that David had been released from prison, and Hob had taken Martin’s place as the Base Manager, he felt like he was finally allowed to let go of everything that was wrong about his past, and make a brand new start.

The advent of Titan Coffee had been a massive blow to his plans, but he was confident he would find a way to come back on top, sooner or later. He was nothing but determined to succeed, show everyone on the base what he was capable of, regardless of the colour he’d been arbitrarily assigned by the system; he was, after all, his father’s son, and if there was one trait they shared that was a deeply rooted contempt for conformism, and the general propensity to play by their own rules.

All was fair when competing with your business rivals. Hob might call it spying on them, and trying to steal their secrets; he preferred to call it creating a level playing field, and paving the way for a better future for Resources – as well as his humble self, of course.

What he was most definitely not counting on as he came back from one of his little expeditions was spotting a furtive figure sneaking along the corridors, being faced with the sinking feeling he knew exactly who it was, no matter how impossible that sounded.

He had been through that portal thing, once; he vaguely understood it to be a door to a different world, though he wasn’t sure what that was supposed to mean, exactly. The fact that all of them had come back from there alive – wherever ‘there’ was – heavily implied that it was entirely possible for Colin to do the exact same thing.

Whatever the truth was, he should probably inform Hob, let her deal with the potential threat of a mad scientist lurking in the recesses of the base. Unless – he stopped dead in his tracks, his lips curling in a self-satisfied smirk.

He could take down the madman himself, show them all what Dave Price was capable of. They would regard him as a hero if he did, finally let him take his rightful place in society. All he needed was a plan of action, and a bit of luck for a change.

The universe owed him that much, after everything he’d been through.

 

* * *

 

David Knight. He should have thought of him sooner, really. The man was always so eager to please everyone, and while he wasn’t entirely sure where he stood when it came to his former mentor and – if he wasn’t much mistaken – lover, it was blindingly obvious just how desperate he was to fit in with his fellow Martians. Dave wasn’t so much hoping to turn him against Colin, as to use him as a reliable source of information, and maybe a potential ally, should the need arise.

It didn’t take him a lot of effort to get David drunk, and extract the truth from him. How Colin had waltzed back into his life all of a sudden, tried to lure him into helping him for old times’ sake. What he hadn’t expected was ending up with a maudlin David clinging onto his neck, crying into his shirt and begging him to get him out of this mess. He might be a lot of things, but he’d sooner be damned rather than let Daddy dearest destroy someone else’s life without as much as batting an eyelid.

“I need you to do something for me, David,” he told him as smoothly as he could, all the while trying to free himself from his grasp. “Do you think you could do that? I bet everyone would be very pleased if you do – especially Miss Hob.”

David sobbed into his neck, which he decided to take as a yes. They said that fortune favoured the bold, and he really hoped that that was the case, at least for this once.

 

* * *

 

“That’s very – inventive of you, Dave,” Colin smirked, somewhat sarcastically. “I’ll give you that. Shall we give each other a little more credit though? We both know you don’t have it in you to see it through. Just walk away now, and I’ll pretend that this little incident never happened.”

Dave threw a quick look at David, took another step towards the blasted thing and the man that was currently standing before it. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that, if I were you – Dad. Inheritance has to count for something, after all.”

He felt more than saw David flinch at his side, kept his eyes firmly on Colin’s face. “I won’t repeat myself again. Either you step through that machine of yours, and never come back – or I’ll just blow up the entire lab, and everyone in it. Your choice.”

“Colin, please,” David cut in, his voice trembling a little. “That’s nitroglycerin he’s holding in his hand. It will tear us to pieces, you know that.”

“Chill out, buddy. He’s just a pathetic little Orange. Of course he’s not going to blow himself up.”

Dave slowly started opening his fingers, saw David brace himself out of the corner of his eye. “Never underestimate an Orange,” he hissed, his voice barely recognisable to his own ears. “If anything, we’re the ones who’ve got nothing to lose.”

Colin inched closer to the portal, his eyes now glued to Dave’s hand. “Let’s go, David. Leave this fool to play with things he doesn’t understand. We’ll find a way back, I promise.”

“I – don’t think I will,” David uttered, painfully. “I’m sorry, Colin. I’m so sorry.”

“Ten,” Dave started to count, as slowly and calmly as he knew how. “Nine. Eight.”

“You’re a stubborn idiot, just like your mother,” Colin threw at him, his hand now resting on the switch button.

“Seven. Six. Five.”

The air was starting to burn in his lungs. David was still rooted to the spot, apparently unable to step away from their impeding death. “Four. Three.”

Colin suddenly jumped through the portal, with a final curse which was probably directed at Dave. It was if a spell was broken, and David launched himself towards the machine. For a split second Dave wondered if he was going to follow Colin after all; he grabbed one of the fire extinguishers instead, and started smashing it against what he assumed was the control panel. The vortex-y thing at the centre of the structure immediately disappeared, leaving only electric sparks and cracks in its wake.

In the end David slumped to his knees, silent tears streaming down his cheeks. “It’s gone, he’s gone. It’s – over.”

Dave took a deep breath, carefully placed the explosive back into its stabiliser the way David had taught him to do. Then he closed the distance between the two of them, awkwardly placed his hands on David’s shoulders. David hid his face against his stomach, and proceeded to cry out a decade’s worth of pain and misery.

That was how Hob found them half an hour later, threatened to let them rot in the same cell if they ever attempted to do anything so incredibly stupid again. He could still see the relief in her eyes, how she stared at the broken machine for a long moment before she ordered them out of the lab, and back to their respective quarters.

David offered him a small, tentative smile as they parted ways. Dave merely nodded back, then slowly made his way to the liftbot. 

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thanks to Wolfsmilch, who not only helped me throughout the writing of this story - as well as the entire series - but also kindly translated the verse I ended up using as a summary of sorts. 
> 
> (I do apologise for all the scientific inaccuracies featured in this particular fic. Any chemists among you might want to yell at me right now, and rightfully so, I am fully prepared to give you that.)


End file.
